As I've said, I am currently writing an essay which sets out to argue that, there may be some benefit for those contemporary process theisms that take seriously the legacy of Schelling if, in the future of thinking about Schelling's God, a shift is made in emphasizing God's psychoanalytic aspects to emphasizing God's aesthetic aspects - that is, in looking at Schelling and the question of deity we ought to consider more carefully how the psychoanalytic is refracted within the aesthetic. To this end I bring in some minor notes from Hegel and Schopenhauer as well.
In the course of my research I found an interesting new book which seems like a "must read" for anyone interested in Schelling: McGrath's The Dark Ground of Spirit: Schelling and the Unconscious. Link HERE.
Contents
Introduction.
Tending the Dark Fire: The Boehmian Notion of Drive. The Night-side of
Nature: The Early Schellingian Unconscious. The Speculative Psychology
of Dissociation: The Later Schellingian Unconscious. Schellingian Libido
Theory. Appendix: The Metaphysical Foundations of Schellingian
Psychology.
Description
Friedrich
Wilhelm Joseph Schelling is widely regarded as one of the most
difficult and influential of German philosophers. In this book, S. J.
McGrath not only makes Schelling's ideas accessible to a general
audience, he uncovers the romantic philosopher's seminal role as the
creator of a concept which shaped and defined late nineteenth- and early
twentieth-century psychology: the concept of the unconscious.
McGrath shows how the unconscious originally functioned in
Schelling's philosophy as a bridge between nature and spirit. Before
Freud revised the concept to fit his psychopathology, the unconscious
was understood largely along Schellingian lines as primarily a source of
creative power. Schelling's life-long effort to understand intuitive
and non-reflective forms of intelligence in nature, humankind and the
divine has been revitalised by Jungians, as well as by archetypal and
trans-personal psychologists. With the new interest in the unconscious
today, Schelling's ideas have never been more relevant.
Reviews
"Rarely
has Schelling been written about with such clarity and passion:
McGrath's careful research clinches the argument that the theosophical
tradition of Boehme as received by Schellingian philosophy constitutes
the root of the unconscious." - Paul Bishop, University of Glasgow, UK
"This book deals with Schelling's theory of the unconscious and examines its complex, critical relations to psychoanalysis and psychology, showing that it constitutes a theory of mental health, an entire psychology, which stands on its own. Moreover, it demonstrates the centrality not only of theology but also of the esoteric tradition in Schelling's philosophy, and carefully traces the development of his thought in that essential context." - Professor James Bradley, Memorial University, Newfoundland, Canada
"McGrath's The Dark Ground of Spirit is among the most imaginative, original, at at times exhilarating, studies of Schelling to appear in recent years. Although he carefully charts the full historical trajectory, including the difficult late work on philosophical religion, of what he calls Schelling's "style" of thinking, he does so in order to carefully unpack the problem of the unconsciousness. This allows him to make a powerful case for a uniquely Schellingian style of psychoanalysis. McGrath's pursuit of what Schelling's student Schubert felicitously dubbed the 'night-side of nature" performs a delicate bi-directional hermeneutic. On the one hand, McGrath contextualizes the work of Schelling in relationship to Boehme, Baader, and other indispensable thinkers, giving us a fuller sense of Schelling's fundamental philosophical impulse. On the other hand, this is an expansive work of 'hermeneutical refraction,' carrying Schelling's 'thought forward into contexts that it does not and cannot anticipate.' Contrasting Schelling with Freud, Jung, and Lacan, McGrath discovers a 'theory of the libido in its own right." - Jason Wirth, Seattle University, Washington, USA
"This book deals with Schelling's theory of the unconscious and examines its complex, critical relations to psychoanalysis and psychology, showing that it constitutes a theory of mental health, an entire psychology, which stands on its own. Moreover, it demonstrates the centrality not only of theology but also of the esoteric tradition in Schelling's philosophy, and carefully traces the development of his thought in that essential context." - Professor James Bradley, Memorial University, Newfoundland, Canada
"McGrath's The Dark Ground of Spirit is among the most imaginative, original, at at times exhilarating, studies of Schelling to appear in recent years. Although he carefully charts the full historical trajectory, including the difficult late work on philosophical religion, of what he calls Schelling's "style" of thinking, he does so in order to carefully unpack the problem of the unconsciousness. This allows him to make a powerful case for a uniquely Schellingian style of psychoanalysis. McGrath's pursuit of what Schelling's student Schubert felicitously dubbed the 'night-side of nature" performs a delicate bi-directional hermeneutic. On the one hand, McGrath contextualizes the work of Schelling in relationship to Boehme, Baader, and other indispensable thinkers, giving us a fuller sense of Schelling's fundamental philosophical impulse. On the other hand, this is an expansive work of 'hermeneutical refraction,' carrying Schelling's 'thought forward into contexts that it does not and cannot anticipate.' Contrasting Schelling with Freud, Jung, and Lacan, McGrath discovers a 'theory of the libido in its own right." - Jason Wirth, Seattle University, Washington, USA
